John Carroll Kirby’s new album ‘Blowout’ is out now
John Carroll Kirby | Photo credit: Sela Shiloni
Listen to ‘Blowout’ here
“Seductively warped and slightly exotic… entirely irresistible”
– Uncut 8/10
“His strongest album to date. It hits all the points you want, and then some.”
– Clash 8/10
“A left-field jazz date traversing elation and sadness”
– MOJO ****
“Kirby’s most adventurous record as well as his most accessible, thanks to hip arrangements, imaginative compositions, and focused, expert musicianship.”
– AllMusic ****
Today, John Carroll Kirby releases his new solo album Blowout, inspired by time spent in Costa Rica playing with local musicians and imagining “failed utopias”.
Blowout’s title teeters between its two definitions – both a moment of destruction and one big party. In Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, Kirby contemplated episodes of collective madness or delusion, such as Fyre Festival and the Heaven's Gate cult, imagining “a festival where everyone gets beamed up to utopia or heaven instead of starving or dying unfulfilled.” He wrote the album in Costa Rica and recorded it in Los Angeles, with a stripped-down band of percussion, flute, and drums joining Kirby on keys.
‘Mates’ is the ecstatic soundtrack to Kirby and pals rolling deep to the festival, ‘Sun Go Down’ is the soundtrack to a dazzling sunset, and ‘Oropendola’ and ‘Gecko Sound’ echo Costa Rica's nature. There’s a darker side too: ‘Vertigo’ is named for a vestibular system condition that makes Kirby dizzy and nauseous; ‘The Takedown’ imagines a “sinister drug sting,” and ‘Hotel Jonny Chingas’ pictures a seedy sex motel run by elusive Chicano legend Jonny Chingas.
The album’s joyfulness is alloyed with melancholy: “I love the concept of saudade,” Kirby says. “For every moment of elation, there’s a certain sadness embedded in the feeling because we know it will come to an end. Blowout is about enjoying yourself even though life is tough, before the candle blows out.”
While less explicitly spiritual than Kirby’s earlier records, Blowout considers the mysteries of the universe via an irreverent path – think Haruomi Hosono, Sun Ra, or Laraaji. Kirby says, “I'm trying to use imagination in music to create my own myths, and keep things playful and funny and not too sanctimonious.” With its refreshing breeziness, warmth, and blend of humor and devotion, Blowout brings together all the elements that make John Carroll Kirby’s music so addictive.
John Carroll Kirby on Tour:
July 30 - Niigata, JP - Fuji Rock †
Aug 5 - Shanghai - YongFoo Elite †
Aug 18 - Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room
Aug 24 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
Aug 26 - Port Townsend, WA - Thing Festival
Sep 13 - Chicago, IL - Sleeping Village
Sep 15 - St Paul, MN - Turf Club
† with Eddie Chacon
Blowout
1. Oropendola
2. Mates
3. The Takedown
4. Hotel Jonny Chingas
5. Vertigo
6. So So So
7. Sun Go Down
8. Gecko Sound
9. Flying Cat
10. Mates (Dub)
11. So So So (Dub)
12. Hotel Jonny Chingas (Dub)
About John Carroll Kirby
John Carroll Kirby is an artist, producer and composer from Los Angeles. Though Kirby's background is steeped in jazz, his signature sound and keyboard playing blends genres and styles. An in-demand collaborator for artists ranging from superstars Solange, Frank Ocean and Harry Styles to indie musicians Yves Tumor, Connan Mockasin, Liv.e, and many more, Kirby has lately focused on his own solo output, releasing five LPs on Stones Throw in three years.
My Garden (2020), a blend of jazz and exotica, was praised by The Fader, LA Times, Q, and Mojo. The same year, Kirby released Conflict, a calming piano album in response to the year’s chaos. Following his first film score for the animated feature Cryptozoo, Kirby’s 2021 jazz-fusion release Septet marked a return to ensemble playing, while Dance Ancestral (2022), with additional production from Canadian artist YuSu, took a more electronic-forward approach.
Alongside these records, Kirby has released episodes of Kirby’s Gold, a web series inspired by Huell Howser’s California Gold. In the series, Kirby chats and improvises with artists ranging from painter Ariana Papademetropoulos to an Eastern European choir. Kirby recently received a Grammy nod for his work on Steve Lacy’s hit “Bad Habit”, and in March 2023, Stones Throw released Sundown, his album-length collaboration with “lowkey R&B legend” Eddie Chacon.
